Come Again Another Day
by Micha247
Summary: Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. All the family wants to play. Rain, rain go away...Yeah, if only it was that easy. Rain OMC. Slightly cracky.
1. Prologue

Luca di Silva had always been an...interesting child. The first month of his life he would cry and scream for what seemed like the entire day. The only relief his poor mother had was when he finally cried himself to sleep. As time went on, he started to cry less and less, to his mother's relief. Eventually he settles into a extremely quiet, curious child.

He seemed to be delighted by every new thing he learned. The strangest things would make him laugh, like a bird at the windowsill, or certain story books.

When he started to crawl, he couldn't seem to stop. His mother would turn away for all of a second and he would take off all over their apartment. After the first few times, when she was terrified that he would hurt himself, she started to make a game of finding him. She would call out his name and followed the resulting giggles to his newest hiding spot. She would always find him, but he liked to hide in the _oddest_ places.

Under the couch, behind the TV set, in a cupboard, on the bookshelf, in a large stew pot, etcetera, etcetera.

The only thing is, she knows everytime she looks at Luca that he won't be able to be a child forever. She's known this since his hair grew in bright, bright blue.

She knows what that can mean.

It's not always true, but people with high flame purity can have it manifest in...conspicuous ways.

It was funny to see her son look so shocked when he found a mirror for the first time, though. He seemed incredibly disbelieving, and he kept trying to tug it down to look at it himself. She took many photos.

When he was two years old and in his 'why' stage, she started telling him flame lore every night before bedtime. Not just the things that everyone knew, but also the things that had been passed down from her family. The things that only a few had knowledge about.

Luca had looked confused at first why these stories had replaced his usual fairytales. For about a week after she showed him her own mist flames, he was extremely quiet, more so than usual. She worried, but couldn't think of a reason for his silence. Fortunately, he returned to himself fairly quickly. After that, he had a spark of determination in his eye every night during storytime.

xxx

Luca didn't know why he had been reborn. His last memories were blurry, but he knew he had been in a car accident of some kind. He remembers the taste of iron in his mouth and snowflakes falling on his skin. He remembers the sounds of screaming falling away to peaceful silence. He remembers darkness.

And then, he remembers light.

It was hard (so, so hard) to accept his new reality because _he did not want this_. He didn't want to live again in a world that had wanted to grind him down until he felt the ache of exhaustion in his _soul_.He screamed and screamed denial of this reality until one night, where his (new) Mama held him close and started crying, too. He couldn't understand her, she sounded a bit warbly and wasn't speaking a language he could understand, but he could tell she was worried and exhausted. He could tell that she loved him.

She didn't ask for a son like him, either. He couldn't blame her for his existence, no matter how much he wanted to.

So, he decided, if he was going to live again, he was going to do it right. He was going to be happy, and he was going to make his Mama happy, too. He had never had one in the Before, so this one he would keep.

He was alive, his Mama loved him, and the Before couldn't hurt him anymore.

It was weird, though, his hair was _blue_. His Mama's hair was black, and her eyes were a very pretty blue, but he had _blue_ hair and _brown_ eyes. He knows he wasn't adopted because of memories he would rather not have.

Really, the birthing process is traumatic for all parties involved.

He knows that his Mama wasn't dying it, either. He would remember that even if she was doing it in his sleep. He even checked his roots in the mirror to be doubly sure.

Sometimes he would catch Mama looking at it, and she seemed worried. She also made sure he was wearing a hat every time they went out. He couldn't ask her, though. He had no idea how to speak her language! He had only known English and some German in his last life, and this sounded like _neither_ of those. It could be Spanish, but it didn't really sound like his neighbor from Before's telenovelas.

It took him _ages_ to start to learn enough to communicate with his Mama. He was two years old by the time storytime made even a little sense, and that was with picture books! Thankfully, once he got started, his new brain seemed to pick up the language - Italian - with lightning speed.

Then came the _really weird stuff_.

Flames?! Really?! Like that stupid anime he watched online to de-stress?!

What?!

He thought his Mama was just a fan when she first started telling him about "the seven flames of will." Then, she set her hand on fire. And turned the fire into different objects.

It was one thing to be reborn. It was another thing to be in KHReborn!, okay?!

So he thought about it.

And thought about it some more.

If his Mama was telling him about flames, that meant she had ties to the Mafia in some way. However, he hadn't seen any evidence of that. She didn't go out at odd times, nor did she have suspicious friends come over. She also didn't seem to have a job despite living in a very nice two-bedroom apartment with a child.

So, he could reasonably assume that she was connected to the Mafia in some way, but was removed enough to not take any jobs or be connected to a famiglia. They were well-off enough to live comfortably, but not so wealthy to be suspicious. Unless she was hiding it.

Ahh! So frustrating!

Whatever. If Mama wanted to tell him juicy flame secrets that he already knew, that was fine. She would get to the good stuff, eventually.

She also started him on meditation, which, _okay_ , he understood, but he thought it was pretty obvious what flame type he was. He had _blue_ hair.

(He wasn't quite over that, yet. He kept getting shocked whenever he passed a reflective surface., and then Mama would laugh at him. It was pretty, though. Maybe he should grow it out…?)

So it really wasn't a surprise when a year later he burst into blue fire that was edged in indigo.

Suddenly, he felt like he could sense _everything_. There was his Mama with swirling indigo and a lick of steady yellow, like sunbeams on a foggy morning. He could feel the dull, muted colors of his flame-inactive neighbors. He could breathe in the colorless fire of the air around him. It was _weird_ , but if he thought about it, it made sense for someone with a background from a world without flames to be sensitive to them. At least, he thought so. It's not like he could confirm it, but it _felt_ right….

The, uh, orange, though. That was a surprise to his Mama. He had his suspicions before this when he was to be able to _feel/sense/touch_ his love for her.

For his Mama, it seemed to have shocked her very, _very_ badly.

"Oh, no," she said. "That's….not good."

And then she was quiet for a long time.

xxx

"Oi, Silva!"

The bartender slammed his hand down next to the sleeping mans head. With a squawk he jumped up from his seat and promptly tripped to fall on the floor in a heap. Quiet laughter from the rest of the occupants of the bar carried over. From the human lump on the floor came a long groan, and then a muffled grunt that could have been anything from a response to .

Slowly, the man oozed back into his seat and looked up pitifully at the bartender. The effect was somewhat ruined by his skewed, oversized sunglasses. His black hair was half falling out from it's bun at the back of his head to brush his shoulders. The bartender just gave him a flat look.

Lucas sighed. "Yes, Marco?"

Marco pointed to the bar stool next to him. Slowly, Lucas turned to look and calmly met the disgusted expression of his tiny boss.

"Ah, captain. How long have you been there…?"

"A while, kora."

"I see." Lucas looked over again to Marcus and whispered, "this is real, right?"

A kick came flying at his head, and Lucas once again collapsed to the floor.

"Don't ignore me, kora!"

Lucas just whimpered from his human puddle.

"Get it together! It's all hand on deck today, so I expect you at your post within the hour!"

Lucas sat up and pouted at Colonnello. "What, why?"

 _(he already knew)_

"Important guests. Don't screw it up." He scoffed, "That might be difficult for you, though. Weakling." Colonnello hopped off the barstool and marched out of the bar. The crowd respectfully cleared a path for him as he stomped by.

Behind his sunglasses, Luca rolled his eyes. He slowly got up to a standing position, re-trying his hair along the way. Putting some money on the bar, he meandered out, hissing at the sudden rise of noise when he left the sound-proofed walls.

He lowered his glasses slightly to squint at the large balloons bobbing in the distance. He could just make out a giant fedora and curls springing out from the sides.

He heaved a sigh and shoved his hands in his jeans' pockets. Behind shaded lenses, eyes flashed orange for a fraction of a second.

"Important guests, huh…. What a tsundere."


	2. First Impressions

Luca was on a cliff, laying down on the ground. His limbs were spread out like a starfish, eyes closed behind celebrity sunglasses. He could hear the waves crashing against the rocks.

It was so peaceful~. He was technically at his post, so Captain couldn't yell at him, right?

Pfft. Like that was going to happen. He could already feel Captain lying in wait in a palm tree. The force of his glare might as well have been lasers trying to burn Luca alive.

At least Falco felt happy.

He could hear the subway starting to approach him, but still didn't move from his position. It would be funnier this way.

The subway rolled to a stop. The door opened.

"Hiee! Is that a dead body?!" Screeched a voice.

"Dame-Tsuna, don't be stupid. A body would have been cleaned up already." Squeaked another.

"EH?!"

Showtime.

Luca slowly got up and faced the two people behind him.

Wow, that kid was fluffy. Super fluffy. Fluffy hair, fluffy face. Even his flames felt fluffy. Like _a warm fire to come home to; broken boundaries; a sleeping lion._

Reborn had that _fire with limited oxygen_ feel that all Arcobaleno did, but also felt like _an eclipse that seared corneas; scales shifting in a desert; burning summer day._ He was also adorable. Luca wanted to pull his pigta- ehem, sideburns.

In his customary slouching position, Luca pulled out a small stack of notecards from his leather jacket, cleared his throat, and started to speak in complete monotone.

"Uh, welcome to the Backstage of Mafia Island. I am your greeter, insert your name here and be sure to be peppy, kora," he ignored the snort from the not-child in front of him and the distant smack of a palm hitting face, "You are here because you are obviously incompetent, and incapable of following basic commands-"

"O-oi."

"-so welcome to your new hell." Luca threw the finished notecard over his shoulder into the whirlpool below, and looked at the next card. "This is where I come in, kora, so just pause for dramatic effect." He threw that note card, too.

Luca felt a kick impact the side of his head and staggered sideways.

"Stupid weakling! I spent ages making those! Apologize!" Colonnello landed with his rifle in the air and Falco on his helmet.

"Eh? A child?"

"Ah, sorry Captain."

"You better be! And what's with that delivery? Are you a robot, kora?!"

At this point a certain hitman interrupted with, "Ciaossu, Colonnello."

"REBORN!" Colonnello yelled. "TAKE THIS!" and shot at him. Reborn dodged, landing in a crouched position, and fired back with a bullet that hit right where Colonnello's helmet covered the middle of his forehead.

"Guh!"

"UWAH!"

Luca stood calmly.

"This person is in charge of the backstage of Mafialand-"

"Didn't you just kill him?!"

"-I don't know this person though." He pointed his gun at Luca. "Oi, you, introduce yourself."

 _(he knew what he felt like. too weak. barely over civilian. unimportant.)_

"What about the dead person?!"

Luca slowly looked down from where he was observing the clouds. His eyes couldn't be seen behind the sunglasses, but his brows pinched together slightly and he tilted his head in confusion after a drawn out moment. "Oh….were you saying something?"

Colonnello snickered from his prone position, and Luca could feel both Reborn's irritation and flames skyrocket.

"HE'S ALIVE?!"

"Fluffy-chan, can you not meow so loudly?"

"F-fluffy? Meow?!"

"Oi." A bullet whizzed past Luca's face. "Don't ignore me."

"Did you ask a question, Supernova-san?"

" _Oi._ "

Colonnello was still laughing as he got up from the ground. He coughed twice to stop. "Reborn, your bullets are puny as always."

"Your anti-tank weaponry is tacky as ever."

"Are you two...friends?" Tsuna asked.

"No."

"We just know each other from the same place."

Luca could practically taste the confusion on Tsuna's face. It was delicious.

"No, seriously Colonnello, you couldn't get someone better to man this place?"

"I didn't think you guys were actually going to be back here. It's not my fault your student is and idiot. Losing your touch, kora?"

Another round of shooting started. Luca slowly moved over to where Tsuna was still standing shocked.

"Yo."

"Oh. Uh. Hello…?"

"Luca di Silva. Or, in Japanese convention, Silva Luca."

"Right...Silva-san?"

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't we stop them?"

"You wanna get in the middle of that?"

They both looked over to where Colonnello was now flying with the aid of Falco, and Reborn had started infusing his bullets with sun flames.

"Ah, no. Definitely not."

"Hmm. I kinda do, though…"

"What." Tsuna looked at him like he couldn't believe the words that Luca just said. How cute. "Are you an idiot?" Tsuna immediately looked contrite and covered his mouth with a hand.

Luca looked at him steadily behind his sunglasses. Tsuna straightened unconsciously under the weight of it. Luca slowly moved his face closer to Tsuna's until he was only a few inches from his nose. Tsuna scrunched his face up, but didn't back away. Up close, Luca could practically see the flames burning in Tsuna's eyes. He wondered if Tsuna could feel Luca's flames all balled up with sharp control deep inside his soul. He wondered if his intuition was clear enough yet the he could feel that Luca had something to hide. He wondered if Tsuna would _see him_.

 _(he can't. no one can. he made sure. no one knows. not yet. it's not time yet. he's alone)_

"What a pure little lion," Luca cooed. "Watch out for the Storm-bird, Little Lion, he would gladly tear you to shreds in his claws."

Tsuna backed a step away. His eyes flickered orange. The fighting in front of them had halted a minute ago, but neither Arcobaleno was interrupting.

 _(they wanted to see if he would do something stupid. they wanted to see if he was going to die today.)_

"Weakling, don't sexually harass Reborn's student."

Luca pulled back and pouted at Colonnello. "I wasn't! Geez."

"Whatever, weirdo."

"No, really, who is this?" Oh Reborn was _irritated_. He might actually shoot Luca! That would be horribly inconvenient. Good thing there was a distraction happening...now!

There was a large explosion. An alarm sounded and the PA system started giving directions to the nearest shelter.

"Isn't this place neutral ground?!" Tsuna yelled over the cacophony.

"Well, not everyone plays by the rules, Fluffy-chan."

"Again with that…"

The two Arcobaleno looked at each other and their glowing amulets.

"If the pacifies are glowing, we know this person…." started Colonnello.

"The only person we know who would do something stupid like this…" Reborn continued.

"Is Skull." They both finish.

"This is bad, most of the military force are off the island for a memorial today. It's why the idiot is here."

Tsuna panicked. "Then what do we do?!"

"As long as I'm here," Colonnello posed dramatically, "then we'll be-"

"PRIMADONNA GIRL, YEAH. ALL I EVER WANTED WAS THE WORLD~. I CAN'T HELP THAT I NEED IT ALL."

The song continued as everyone turned to where it was emanating from Luca. He started a little and began to pat down his body in search of something. He could feel their judgemental stares. Obviously, they didn't know a good song when they heard one. With a little "ah-ha!" he held out his phone triumphantly. Pressing a button, he put it to his ear.

"Hello~? Oh, Skull! How's it going?...Ah, no I'm working today, sorry…. Yeah, I'm backstage right now, I think I'm gonna have to fight soon….I mean, maybe?"

The explosions suddenly cut off. Two Arcobaleno and one Vongola heir looked at the man talking on the phone incredulously. Tsuna shot a look to Reborn, who shrugged.

"Oh hey, the explosions stopped, so I can hear you better now….Oh, you're nearby? Wanna get some lunch, then? Ah, wait I gotta let my boss know." He shifted to look at Colonnello. "Hey boss, I'm going on break. I'll be back in, like, an hour."

"...Your shift is over in an hour, kora."

"So?"

"...Sure. Whatever. Just-" He pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Just let Skull know I'm sending him a bill, kora."

"Okie-dokie~! Ah, Skull? Yeah I'm free, you wanna go to that Thai place?" Still talking on the phone, he hopped the fence back to the main island.

The three left behind were silent for a long moment. Reborn turned sharply to Colonnello.

"Who _the hell_ was that?"

He sighed. "No one important, kora."


	3. Purple Parallels

I forgot to mention this before, but it's pretty obvious that I don't own KHR. Luca, and any future OC's, are mine.

A smooth click, and the door to the apartment unlocks.

Volpe, his cat, meows up at him as we steps in. Luca absentmindedly scratches her under her chin.

She tries to scratch him.

Sighing, Luca takes off his sunglasses, placing them in hs jacket, only to spy a small, purple boot lying sideways just inside the doorway.

A few feet further in, standing straight up, is another.

Half lying out of the bedroom door is a bundle of purple leather.

Toeing off his own sneakers, and hanging up his jacket, he places the boots neatly next to the door, and follows the clothes into the bedroom.

There is more purple leather lying on the floor. On the bedside table is a small pile of silver jewelry. Luca unties his headband and places it carefully next to the small hoard.

A covered lump is in the middle of the bed.

Quietly, Luca pads over and lifts the sheets.

Skull is curled up in a ball in a white tee and lycra shorts around his shattered motorcycle helmet.

"Oodako?" Luca inquires.

"In the bathroom. Door's closed," Skull mumbles.

Luca gently tugs the helmet, Skull lets it go freely from his arms. His face is smushed in the bed sheet.

There is blood inside the helmet.

Luca drops it onto the ground and looks back at Skull. "Are you getting makeup all over my sheets?"

A wet chuckle. "Maybe."

"...Well, it's not like it hasn't seen worse things." That earns him a snort.

Luca slides into the bed.

Skull cuddles into Luca's chest like the toddler he only physically resembles, pointedly rubbing his face on Luca's shirt.

" _Hey_."

Luca feels the laugh more than he hears it.

 _(laughing in the face of death)_

He starts carding a hand through plum hair, feeling out the ragged cloud flames coming from the tiny person on his chest. Gently, ever so gently, he lets a tongue of his rain flames sooth over the edges. He's careful not to let a _picogram_ of sky flames shine through.

Despite his iron control, his eyes still lighten slightly to a burnt orange. Closing them quickly for a long second, he's grateful that Skull is still buried in his shirt.

It vexes him that, no matter what he does, he still can't get that pesky tell under control.

Skull sighs in contentment under his ministrations.

"Tell me."

"It's _stupid_."

"Tell me anyways."

" _Fine."_ A small hand smacks him weakly. "You were obviously out of the way, so I thought 'hey, let's go see the guys!' I thought it would be funny to mess with Reborn's new student."

"...Well."

"Yeah, I _know_. Hindsight is 20/20, _what-the-eff-ever_. Anyways," he pops up to grin at Luca. His face is surprisingly clean of makeup. Probably because he _wiped it all_ on _Luca's stuff_. "It was _hilarious!_ You should have seen it, the poor kid kept trying to convince himself he was in a dream! And I - well, it was Oodako, technically - totally captured some mafiosi and threw them _so fucking far_. I hope they're not dead, but whatever, I threw them near water. They're fine. Right? Right. Whatever, not important. The point is, everyone was _so super impressed_ by the Great Skull-sama! It was great advertising, yanno? And then! Then -"

His head thunks back down on Luca's chest.

"Then Reborn showed up."

When he doesn't continue for nearly a minute, Luca nudges him gently.

"Nooooooo," he whines. "It's so _embarrassing_."

"Well, now I've really got to hear it."

" _Louuuu._ You're horrible. Why do I like you. Go away. No. Wait. Don't. I'm comfortable. Ugh. Alright."

He props his head on Luca's chest. His chin is stabbing into Luca's sternum.

"Okay, so first flipping thing he does, is say that's he's surprised that I haven't eaten Oodako yet." Skull rolls his eyes "Like, would I suggest he shish kabob Leon? Hell no. But, nooooo, if it's octopus it's fair game, apparently. And, well, after that, he, uh, maybe, kinda sorta asked me out for drinks? But, not like a date! At least," he mumbles, "I don't think so. Anyways!" his voices raises back up while his ears burn cherry-red. "I, like an idiot, freaked out, and made Oodako grab him." He looks away from Luca's raised eyebrows. "He let me, which was cool, but then I didn't know what to do because he _usually_ evades. So I just sorta randomly did something with my hands that Oodako couldn't follow and played it off. But then he, uh" he looks down at Luca's shirt and stars fiddling with it, "that's when he hit me into a tree and shattered my helmet. I only died for, like, a second, though!" His eyes are big and pleading at Luca. "No one noticed, so it's fine."

Luca's eyes sadden. "I'm sorry, Skull." There isn't anything else to say.

 _(it happens over and over and over and over and over and over and-)_

"...Right." He sniffs wetly and his eyes glaze over the tiniest bit. "Well, then Colonnello showed up and shot up all the Carcassa ships. Asshole. And then," he releases a shuddering sigh and puts his head back down. "Then I came here and felt bad for myself for a while...sorry"

"Hey, no," Luca swipes hand through Skull's hair again, "you can _always_ come to me. You hear me? No matter what."

"...Thanks."

Xxx

Luca is enjoying an earl gray latte when Reborn finds him.

"Luca di Silva. Estimated age early twenties." Luca stares deeply into his tea. Could you tell the future with a latte? "Hair: black. Eyes: brown. Caucasian. Constantly wears sunglasses. Works at Mafialand as a tracking specialist for mafiosi and associates who break the rules. Despite this, your fighting abilities are negligible." Luca reaches into his bun and retrieves a tube of lipstick. "Rain flames with mist secondary." He slowly applies a coat of purple on his mouth. It's freshly stolen from Skull. "Your common methods of flame use are tranquilizing your opponent, and then tazing them. You, apparently, then start yelling for help as loud as you can." Luca starts making pouty faces at Reborn. "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking nice for our date."

"What."

"Well, you obviously stalked me on social media. And now, here we are, getting drinks together."

"I'm not-" with impeccable timing, the barista places a cup of coffee in front of Reborn. It had cute latte art of a winky face inside a heart. Reborn looks at the cup for a few seconds, looks at Luca, then back at the cup. "I only drink espresso."

The barista, returning in a fluster, and replaces the latte with an espresso and a flurry of apologies for the misplaced order, bringing the latte over to another couple across the shop.

Reborn stares at the tiny cup.

Luca sips his tea.

Delicious.

Reborn continues as if the last minute didn't happen. "You are too weak for any famiglia to take you on as anything but cannon fodder. However, you are just skilled enough to secure a steady job here, on neutral territory. According to Colonnello, you have barely left the island to take a few contracted tracking jobs since you arrived five years ago. Most of your time is supposedly spent bar-hopping. He thought you were a spy, but with further investigation, you were cleared of that suspicion. He also said, and this is a direct quote, 'that stupid, lazy weirdo can barely tie his shoes together. He's so weak flame-wise it's almost an insult. It's a miracle I haven't punted him off a cliff yet.'"

Luca sips his tea. "Wow," he says. Reborn smirks. "I really hope you didn't pay money for that info."

Reborn's smirk falls. "Why?"

"Like 90% of that is on my Linkedin profile."

As Reborn whips out his phone to check for himself, and Luca considers the person in front of him with his fingers wrapped around tight around his mug. He is so, so bright. It's tempting, but Luca would never let himself break his iron control for even a moment. It's the wrong place, and it's _definitely_ the wrong time.

 _(he would chose the lion everytime. he would never take that choice away from him)_

Besides, Luca doesn't actually like him yet.

"You put your mafia, _flame-specific,_ information on a public, civilian website." He sounds like he's barely holding back the urge to scream at Luca. Honestly, though, Luca gets that tone a lot.

"Well, sorta? I mean, how else am I gonna get my business out there?"

Reborn stares silently at him for several seconds.

He slowly puts down his phone on the table.

Taking the cup of espresso, he knocks it back like a shot, then slams it back down.

" _How._ In the _hell_. Have you not been carted away by the Vindice for breaking Omerta?"

Please, like they would ever.

"I guess they have poor internet in their secret lair," Luca says airily. "Besides, it's not _that_ specific. It's only that obvious to people in the know." He gestures to the tiny hitman in example.

"So what did you actually want, Supernova-san? I have places to be, and I'm running out of tea. Wow, that rhyme was unintentional."

Reborn stares blankly at him.

 _(and the abyss-)_

Luca stares back.

"Luca di Silva, The Bloodhound."

The world keeps turning, people keep talking, the birds still sing, hearts still beat, and lungs still breathe, but something momentous is about to happen, and only one person knows.

"You're coming with me to Namimori."

Luca smirks.

"As I said, Supernova-san, I have places to be. It's good that I'm already packed, no?"

And then he sips his tea.


	4. Outside Looking In

**Thank you everyone who reviewed! Skull is a fave of mine, so I like to see him suffer ;P.**

 **I still don't own KHR.**

On the way back to Namimori, Tsuna was nervously doing homework. Reborn would assign him additional work from time to time in order to catch up more quickly with his regular coursework.

If this appeared too generous at first glance from Reborn, that's because it was.

Of course, this was Reborn, so there was a catch to the tortur-ehem….tutoring.

Tsuna was sitting at the provided desk in his room on the cruise ship. Next to him, Reborn stood at the edge staring unnervingly at the side of fluffy hair with sharp, button eyes.

Tsuna felt a drop of cold sweat slowly drip down the side of his face. With a small gulp, he clenched his pencil tighter and tried to will the words in front of him to order into some sort of sense.

Instead of his normal attire, Reborn was wearing black cleats, black pants with white lining the outside hem of his legs, a black and white striped t-shirt, and a black baseball cap bearing a crosshair pattern above the brim. A stopwatch was held almost carelessly in one small fist, and a whistle was poised to blow just in front of his mouth..

Just barely poking out of his pocket were a few colored cards.

Yes, in case it wasn't obvious, Reborn was wearing an impeccable sports referee uniform.

He was, of course, absolutely adorable.

Tsuna hesitantly wrote on the page.

Precisely one minute and thirty seconds passed in these conditions. For one person, it was much too short. For another, it was much too long.

It can be guessed which was which.

A shrill whistle blasted into Tsuna's eardrum with almost physical force. Even though he knew it was coming, the sheer _noise_ of it caused a full body flinch and a small shriek to escape from his lips.

Reborn held out his hand imperiously.

Tsuna handed him the worksheet obediently.

Skimming over the work, Reborn released a thoughtful hum.

Tsuna gripped his knees tightly to try to stave off the fine trembling in his fingers.

The paper lowered just enough that dark eyes could peer over the edge.

Too fast for mundane eyes to see, the tiny hitman reached into his pocket, whipped out a card and proclaimed, "RED! PENALTY!"

The card held two inches from Tsuna's face was a bright red and an angry emoji was drawn in the middle.

"NOOO!" Tsuna despaired while clutching his head between his hands.

"No complaining, Dame-Tsuna. It's your own fault if you can't memorize a simple formula."

"Ehhh?!" Tsuna whined.

"However," Reborn tugged his ball cap down sharply so his eyes were shadowed, "before we get to the fun-"

" _For you maybe,"_ Tsuna mumbled quietly.

"-I have something to ask you, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn continued, ignoring the disrespect _for now._

Tsuna, who knew that whatever it was that could cause Reborn to interrupt his fun for a moment was important gave his full attention to Reborn. He leaned forward eagerly, thankful for the few moments of respite this would hopefully give him.

"You recall the man we met Backstage."

"...Silva-san?" Tsuna tilted his head inquisitively.

"That's right," Reborn nodded and slipped his hands into his pockets.

"What about him?"

Reborn pursed his lips for a second before answering, "What was your impression of him?"

Tsuna leaned back and crossed his arms, "My impression, huh…."

Tsuna sat in silence for a long moment. Reborn kept his eyes on Tsuna, but the boy's eyes wandered to the side and unfocused as he thought seriously on his tutor's question.

"...Kind of...weird? I guess?" Tsuna frowned. "He had sunglasses on, so it was kinda hard to tell what he was feeling. It seemed like he was trying to annoy both you and Colonnello-san on _purpose_ , which I think is _crazy,"_ at this he made sure Reborn understood how serious he was by looking straight into his eyes, "and he said some weird things-about a storm bird? I didn't really get it, but it….felt important, somehow."

Tsuna didn't think he could ever find the words to describe what he had felt in that moment. It reminded him of when he was under the effects of a Dying Will Bullet; _light_ and _heat_ and _knowing_ all wrapped up in a burning desperation. The aching cold that he had lived with for most of his life being brushed away in order for him to _focus_ on one single thing. Under Silva-san's heavy gaze, no matter how hidden it was behind oversized lenses, he felt like nothing in the world could tear his own eyes away. All of his attention was on the strange man in front of him.

"And," Tsuna continued, "he felt….empty. No," his eyebrows scrunched together trying to recall the exact feeling he had sensed,"not empty. But, uh, like, I was looking at something that was _less_ than what I thought it would be, I guess?" He looked at Reborn beseechingly. "Does that make sense?"

Reborn was standing stock still and a bubble was slowly expanding and retracting from his nose.

He had fallen asleep sometime during Tsuna's explanation.

Tsuna, in disbelief, opened his mouth in order to screech before he suddenly stopped, his teeth clicking as he snapped it closed.

If Reborn was napping, maybe he wouldn't have to be play the punishment game?

Slowly, he stood up from his chair.

Carefully, he tiptoed across the plush carpet. His steps made barely a whisper on the soft weave. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief that he didn't trip when he reached the doorway.

Gingerly, he reached for the doorknob. He pressed down on the handle.

A bullet slammed into the door an inch away from his ear.

"HIEEE!"

He fell back onto the floor in shock.

"Where are you going, _Dame-Tsuna_?"

Tsuna felt his spine creak as he stiffly turned to face the dark looming presence behind him.

The demon in a child's suit smirked sharply at the terrified face of his charge.

" _I'm not done with you yet._ "

* * *

Luca meandered down the street of the quaint Japanese town he had been avoiding his entire life.

Namimori was nice, he supposed, Definitely different from the (un)controlled chaos of Mafialand that he had been living in for the last five years, but nothing really compared to that.

The town wasn't really like anywhere else that he had lived, either.

This was due to the fact that the whole town seemed to be gassed with mist flames.

Alright, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but there was a definite excess of illusion-type flames threading throughout the town.

Every so often, Luca would pass by an otherwise completely innocuous area and get hit with a sudden sense of _look away/nothing to see here_ accompanied by a sticky feeling on his skin.

It was very annoying! Other people might have had no trouble ignoring or dismissing these- these- _deception farts_ , but Luca was having trouble not stopping and staring at such pervasive and blatant flame use.

How the hell did normal people not sense things like this? He felt like he wanted to take an hour long shower and he had only been walking around for thirty minutes!

He bet it was all Kawahira's fault too! That stupid oji-san just couldn't help himself, it seemed.

Luca stopped in the middle of the road, hit by a sudden, horrifying realization.

This was where he was going to live for the foreseeable future.

 _Oh sweet Sepira_ , this would be hell. Yup. This was it. This was hell. Surrounded by Kawahira's sticky flatulence and "retired" mafiosi just itching to get some action.

….He did not mean that how it had sounded.

Was the town already infecting him? Namimori definitely had its own brand of crazy, that was clear from what he could remember from the anime. Was it contagious?

Who was he kidding, he was already madder than a hatter, this would be perfect!

As long as these mist flames _stopped clinging to him he swore to fucking god-_

 **Yeah, so not much plot happening this chapter, but whatev. We'll get there.**


	5. Home Visits and Cats

**Happy Halloween! Trick or treat; here's a new chapter~.**

 **In which Luca's ability to bullshit comes out to play.**

 **Is that any different than normal, though?**

 **(Also, Volpe is pronounced Vol-pei, not Volp. It means fox if you were curious.)**

It was a beautiful morning.

The sun shined unrelentingly, birds chirped incessantly, dogs were taking their humans on morning walkies, etcetera.

It was lovely, truly.

A scream pierced the air.

A muffled explosion closely followed.

Just a usual day, really.

A man skipped own the road in the direction of the chaos while humming a jaunty tune.

His work boots were perhaps not entirely suitable to skipping. His brown leather jacket was perhaps a tad warm for the summer weather. His sunglasses could have been a bit much for the morning. His blue-striped cloth headscarf flapped in the breeze like a flag. He jingled irritatingly with every hop, and he held a very annoyed cat in his arms.

The man was, obviously, Luca di Silva.

He reached his destination perfectly timed with one last skip, while his cat mrrowed angrily.

"Wow, such a nice house! Ne, Volpe?" he said looking down at the cat in his arms.

Volpe, the cat, glared with the force of a thousand suns.

Nodding decisively to himself, Luca stepped through the gate and up to the front door. Shifting slightly to hold his cat in one arm, he slapped his entire hand on the doorbell.

He could hear the gentle chime ringing inside, and a muffled voice grew louder as it approached the front entrance.

The door swung open, revealing Sawada Nana in all her oblivious glory.

"Oh!" she blinked."Hello! Can I help you?" Her eyes trailed down from Luca's sunglasses to the furry demon trying to glare a hole in this new human. "Oh my, what a cute cat!"

"Thank you! His name is Volpe," Luca replied cheerily. Volpe hissed."You must be Sawada Nana-san. I'm actually here for Supe-I mean, Reborn….kun? San? Sama? The child. I am here for the child." He smiled winningly. "Is he in?"

"Ahh, yes, he is," Nana beamed. Flowers seemed to bloom around her head. "Would you like to come in? I'm just finishing breakfast."

"I would love to, thank you." Luca bowed slightly.

"Oh, and, as a friend of Reborn-kun's, feel free to call me Mama!" She beamed.

He stepped inside and placed Volpe around his neck like a particularly grumpy scarf, bending down to untie and remove his shoes. He left them neatly aligned next to a pair of worn sneakers and a pair of lacy flats.

"Ahh...Actually, um, Sawada-san, that's what I called my own mother, and, though she died a while ago, it would be a bit weird for me to call you that." Luca shrugged apologetically.

"Oh you poor thing!" Nana cooed. "Don't worry about it, if that's the case," she flapped a hand at him. "But! You have to call me Nana instead, alright?" She glared playfully while wagging a finger at Luca.

"Nana-san, then." Luca replied, scratching the back of his head.

Following Nana into the kitchen, he smelt what could only be delicious homemade food.

Is this what heaven smelled like? Even Volpe looked a little less ornery at the smell. It was a miracle!

"They should be down in just a minute," Nana said over her shoulder as she returned to the pot bubbling on the stove. "Reborn-kun is so thoughtful helping my useless son-ah, his name is Tsuna-get going in the morning!"

"...Is that so," Luca said as he sat down on the table. Unseen by Nana, by anyone, his eyes flashed sunset-orange.

 _(uselessuselessuselessuseless)_

Still laying across his neck, Volpe grumbled.

Just at that moment, someone shrieked and cascading series of thuds resounded in the house. Three heads turned at the noise. Two in surprise, and one in fond recognition.

"That would be Tsu-kun," Nana chirped with a hand on her cheek before returning to breakfast.

Luca stared silently at her back for a moment before sighing heavily and slumping in his chair.

"I guess," he mumbled quietly, "I shouldn't be surprised." He turned his head slightly to look at his cat. "What do you think, Volpe?"

Volpe tried to bite his nose.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Luca straightened up and faced the doorway with a placid smile on his face.

"Kaa-san could you-HIEEEE!" Tsuna jumped in shock at the strange man at the kitchen table before falling to the ground in an ungraceful sprawl.

Luca shifted just enough to let the bullet that had been shot at him pass by harmlessly near his ear.

" _Gooooooooood_ morning, Fluffy-chan!" he sang.

"IT'S YOU!" Tsuna pointed shakily at Luca's smiling figure. "Wait. STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"Hmmm," Luca pretended to consider that for a moment. "Nope!"

"Weirdo-Luca. What are you doing here?" Reborn, who had jumped gracefully off of Tsuna's head onto the table when Tsuna fell, pointed his Leon-gun at Luca's head.

"Eh? You told me to come to Namimori, though?" Luca tilted his head in, once again, false confusion.

"That may be true, but I definitely didn't tell you where the house was. So," his eyes glinted dangerously. Tsuna held his breath in sudden fear. "How did you know where we would be, Weirdo-Luca?"

Luca's smile widened until he was grinning at the hitman, unafraid of the weapon trained unerringly in front of him.

"Maa, Supernova-san. You're much too paranoid!" He leaned back and crossed his legs at the knee. "I'm a tracker. _I tracked you down._ Obviously." He childishly stuck out his tongue.

"How?"

"Trade secret~. You know how it is," Luca shrugged bonelessly.

Reborn held his position a moment more just to make a point before letting his gun turn back into a friendly chameleon. He sighed, "I hope you know that, if Colonello hadn't vouched for you, you would be dead."

Luca chuckled. "I'm happy he likes me so much, then!"

Reborn snorted. "He said that he was surprised you made it to adulthood with your skills."

"That's just how he shows affection!" Luca smiled.

"He also said that you had the self-preservation of an alcoholic lemming." Reborn crossed his arms and shifted to lean on one hip.

"More affection!"

"What about that part where I told you he wanted to punt you off a cliff?"

"Wow, he really is a tsundere, huh?"

That got a slightly amused upturn of the mouth from Reborn. Luca felt absurdly accomplished.

"Um," Tsuna interrupted. "Silva-san?"

Luca turned his head to look at the fluffy child still on the ground. Tsuna squeaked before seeming to gather his courage.

"It's just….ah….your cat is staring at me…."

"Oh don't worry about Volpe!" Luca said with a thumbs-up.

"...He looks angry, though." He lowered his voice to a whisper, " _I think he wants to eat me._ "

"Well, _actually_ ," Luca began."I didn't really intend to bring him today. He's more of an indoors cat, you know? But, anyways, I just moved into my apartment yesterday and I went to speak to the landlady today about the water 'cause it was super cold, but when she came in to see for herself she saw Volpe and told me there were no pets allowed! Isn't that horrible, Fluffy-chan?! What kind of soulless monster makes a rule like that? And so I said to her, 'Well, that isn't a pet, that's Volpe!' and then she said, 'So, he's a decoration?' and then Volpe meowed at her because he was _so totally offended honestly!_ But then she glared at me and was like, 'That's obviously a living cat,' and _I_ said, 'Well obviously Volpe is a living cat. Did you think he was a zombie?'And she was like, ' _No_ , but you _said_ that it wasn't a pet,'and I said 'Volpe isn't a pet,' and she asked, 'Well, what is he then?' And I told her," he took a deep breath. "'He's a spirit that's haunting me!'"

"What," Reborn said.

"HIE! Your cat is a ghost?!" Tsuna screeched.

"Not really, but it's genius, right? Well, my landlady didn't really get it, so she told me that Volpe had to leave, and I said to her 'Of course he's leaving. I have an appointment to get to, and he follows me everywhere!' But Volpe really was apparently super comfortable where he was at the moment and _did not want to be moved_. So I- _maybe_ -tranquilized him a little bit." Luca grimaced slightly in remembrance.

"...You tranquilized your cat," Tsuna stated in disbelief.

"Yup!"

"I-isn't that dangerous? For the gh-cat, I mean? What if the medication was wrong?"

"Ah, I didn't _drug_ him. I'm not a monster, geez!" Luca pouted.

"T-then, how…?" Tsuna questioned. Although it seemed that he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Luca perked up excitedly and grinned at Tsuna. "You wanna see?"

"Uhh-" Tsuna started.

While Luca was rummaging in his jacket, Nana worriedly interrupted. "Tsu-kun, won't you be late at this rate?"

Tsuna whipped his head to look at the clock on the wall. The clocked ticked over to 7:45.

"Oh no!" Tsuna scrambled up from where he had been on the floor the entire time. Quickle shoving food in his mouth until his cheeks bulged like a hamster, he ran to the front door. Shoving his shoes on, he grabbed his bag and sprinted out the door so quickly he left a trail of dust behind him.

Left behind, Luca turned to Reborn with both his eyebrows raised. Reborn looked back at him, deadpan.

xxx

Chewing furiously while running for his life, Tsuna choked slightly when he glanced to the side to see Luca easily keeping up next to him, cat still on his shoulders.

"I'm surprised, Fluffy-chan. You really want to get there on time, huh?" Luca raised an eyebrow.

Swallowing forcefully, Tsuna panickedly replied, "It's not that!" Tsuna said between gasps for breath. "Hibari-senpai will bite me to death if I'm even a minute late!"

"Is this this famous Disciplinary Committee I've heard so much about?"

"You know?!" Tsuna was shocked.

"Fluffy-chan I know _everything._ " Luca said meaningfully.

 _(it was so hard to remember; it was impossible to forget)_

The gates of Namimori Middle School came into view after rounding one last corner, saving Tsuna from having to respond. Luca trotted to a stop just inside the grounds while Tsuna kept running as fast as he can towards the building. Putting one hand on his hip, Luca looked up at the school and absentmindedly scratched Volpe with the other.

"Hmmm….It's kind of smaller than I expected," Luca mused.

Shuffling in place a little impatiently, Luca lifted an arm and looked at his watch.

The seconds ticked by.

Luca rocked back and forth on his heels a little.

The time ticked over to 8:01 am.

"Herbivore."

Luca grinned and spun around to meet the Demon of Namimori.

 **I feel like I should mention that this is also posted on ao3, wher ethey actually let you do strikethroughs and not just _tease and lull you into a false sense of security_. Humph.**

 **Just...just every time something** _(looks like this)_ **in Luca's POV it's supposed to be using strikethrough, alright. Can y'all imagine that for me?**

 **Thank you to everyone who has followed and reviewed so far! I truly appreciate it.**


	6. The Welcoming Committee

**This is not how Hibari Kyouya thought his day was going to go.**

Hibari Kyouya glared at the herbivore in front of him.

The stupid herbivore obviously couldn't recognize a superior carnivore. The herbivore was _smiling_ at him.

"You are trespassing on Namimori Middle School property, herbivore."

Perhaps it was blind? The idiotic sunglasses the herbivore was wearing were hiding most of the herbivore's face, so it was hard to tell exactly what expression it was making. However, that was irrelevant information, no matter how irritating.

It would be bitten to death, regardless.

"Aren't you a student? Shouldn't you be in class now?"

What was this herbivore blathering about?

"It's not good to skip class, you know. I hear the Disciplinary Committee takes that seriously around here."

The herbivore looked _concerned_.

What.

Kyouya looked down to make sure his Committee armband was still pinned to his jacket.

As he thought, the bright red band was still in place, cheerfully flapping in the slight breeze.

He looked back up to question the herbivore's intelligence and took a shocked step back when he realized how close the herbivore had gotten in the moment he had looked away. Now, the herbivore was barely two feet away, and Kyouya could see himself reflected in the sunglasses on the herbivore's face.

He let his tonfas slip down to his hands.

"Ah! I know weapons are _definitely_ not allowed at school, Little Bird," the man said. "I know this is my first day, but I think I'm going to have to give you detention." The man frowned and looked over his sunglasses slightly, and Kyouya could got a glimpse of laughing whiskey-brown eyes.

Was this herbivore stupid? Did he really think Kyouya was going to let him insult him like this?

"I'll bite you to death, herbivore," Kyouya snarled, crouching in preparation.

The man whistled. "Wow, kids these days are into all sorts of things, huh? It's nice that you're so open with your preferences-"

Kyouya lunged, swinging a tonfa at the herbivore's head.

The man ducked underneath the blow. Catching Kyouya's armat the elbow and upper arm, the man spun inwards and _pulled_ , throwing Kyouya so that he fell forward and hit the ground on his back.

For one moment he couldn't breathe, then he was rolling away and back up on his feet, both tonfas held in front of his body in a ready position.

However, contrary to his expectations, the man did not continue attacking. The maybe-herbivore just stood there _slouching_ and petting his scarf-wait, was that an animal?

"You really need to work on getting consent, Little Bird. You almost hit Volpe!" The man whined.

"Pets are not allowed at school. Do not refer to me by that name."

"Wow, Volpe," the weird maybe-herbivore turned to the cat. "You really are unpopular today." He started rummaging in his jacket.

The herbivore was ignoring him, unacceptable.

Kyouya sprinted the few steps to his prey, once again aiming a tonfa at the man, this time his other tonfa was ready should the man choose to duck. The cat was a predator, it could take care of itself.

This time the man shifted to outside Kyouya's arm so that his tonfa just barely missed him. Kyouya turned his head to follow the movement and started to bring his arm into a backhand swing.

The grinning herbivore lifted a hand.

The last thing he felt before his world blurred around the edges was a gentle mist on his face.

xxx

Luca inwardly cackled as Hibari Kyouya dropped like a sack of bricks.

"Ahh, works every time," he grinned as a spray bottle spun around his finger.

Once upon a time, Luca had just gotten a new kitten and was attempting to train him not to pee on his couch. He borrowed several books on cat rearing, and discovered a method of punishing your cat when it did something naughty. Simply buy a spray bottle, fill it up with normal tap water, and spray it at your cat when necessary. Simple; cheap; effective!

How did pavlovian pet management have turn into knocking someone out? Ah, but Luca was a genius, you see. One day, he wondered to himself if he could shove flames in some sort of jar. Purely out of curiosity with no ulterior motive _at all_ , of course. Some extremely 'scientific' experiments later and, lo and behold, the water in his Bad Kitty Spray was infused with rain flames! Instant knockout for grumpy kitties.

This lead to human trials, which is how Luca was able to take down so many of the people he was sent to track that were supposedly 'above his level', pfft. The End.

Now, he had a teenage skylark to deal with.

Bending down smoothly, Luca placed the Head of the Disciplinary Committee's tonfas on his chest. Careful not to disturb neither the weapons or the cat still lying on his shoulders, he moved one arm beneath Hibari's knees, and one behind his shoulder blades. Grunting slightly in exertion, Luca lifted the young man to his chest and stood up.

Princess carry complete.

"Well, time to turn you in for misbehavior, Little Bird." Luca strode forward into the school building. Bypassing the shoe lockers, Luca began wandering the halls.

Hibari blearily opened his eyes at the change in lighting, staring at Luca's face in befuddlement at his situation. Slowly becoming more aware, he started to shift slightly like he was struggling.

"Now, now. I'll drop you if you keep doing that." Luca hitched the body in his arms up slightly.

"...Herbivore," Hibari muttered. He mumbled incoherently, ending with, "...to death."

"You know, I was wondering about that herbivore stuff," Luca drawled. "Do you have something against my being vegetarian? 'Cause, that's rude." Passing by a classrooms, Luca smiled at a teacher who was gaping at them through the glass windows. "You shouldn't judge people for their life choices like that,"he looked down sternly in reprimand.

"... _die."_

"Maybe you're just poorly socialized," Luca continued and pursed his lips thoughtfully. "If you're just insulting people, you really need new material. I can think of at least four extremely dangerous animals off the top of my head that are herbivores." Wow that science teacher should really keep their eyes on their experiment. That's just poor lab safety.

Hibari furrowed his brows in bleary confusion. It was actually a bit cute.

"Let's see, first there's the ever popular hippopotamus. As one of the most aggressive and one of the largest mammals in the world, they are known to attack and kill more humans than the lion or crocodile, and can crush a watermelon easily in their jaws, which, fun fact, is the same density as a human head!" Luca chirped. "Most predators avoid them because they are just _that_ scary."

Turning sharply at a corner, Luca continued unerringly to his destination. "Second would have to be the Elephant. You know that adage, 'an elephant never forgets'? Well, it's true that elephants will remember the people who have wronged them and can be extremely vindictive. The largest land mammal in the world, an elephant also has 40,000 muscles in their trunks. You get on the wrong side of _this_ herbivore and you'll soon regret it." Luca chuckled to himself.

"Thirdly, hmm," Luca started, ascending some stairs at a casual pace. "I suppose I would have to go with the white-lipped peccary. They're these little wild pigs that travel in massive herds of over 500 individuals." Hibari grumbled disgustedly. "I know, right? The've got these super sharp teeth and the whole herd will tear an animal-or person!-to literal shreds if they try to mess with even one of them." Luca got off the stairs at the correct floor.

"...no...crowding." Hibari reached up his hand and smacked it on Luca's face. As his hand dragged down, Luca's sunglasses dislodged slightly, revealing one clear orange-brown eye. Luca huffed a laugh and left it for now.

They stopped in front of a pair of sliding doors. The sign above them read Reception Room.

Sticking his tongue out a little in concentration, Luca shifted their combined weight carefully to one side and stuck out his foot. Wiggling it against the edge of the door, he slowly forced it open with the toe of his boot.

Finally getting edging enough of it open that he could fit his foot in between the door and the wall, he kicked the door sideways so it opened with a resounding crash, startling his passengers. Hibari flinched in his arms, and one of the tonfas still laying on his chest crashed to the ground in a metallic clatter. Volpe, still on Luca's shoulders, dug his nails into the jacket he was on and hissed in protest.

Sobering slightly from the loud noise, Hibari Kyouya slowly turned his head to the unrepentant face above him and glared viciously through his fringe.

"Ahaha….Oops?"

"... _I'll kill you,_ " Hibari gritted out between his teeth.

"Yeah, yeah," Luca drawled, stepping into the room. "I heard you the first hundred times, Little Bird."

Luca could just barely hear a strangled scream of frustration in the back of Hibari's throat.

Walking over to the couch, Luca gently lay down the-admittedly, a little heavy-teenager on the plush couch. Standing up, he readjusted his sunglasses to the correct position. Retrieving both the fallen tonfa, and the one still laying on the ground at the doorway, he ignored the wobbly hand that attempted to reach for the weapons. He placed them onto the table in front of the couch.

Coming back around the side, he tugged the gakuran jacket out from where it was pinned between Hibari's back and the couch cushions. He folded it neatly to that the bright red armband was facing up at the top, and lay it down on the coffee table.

Sitting down at the edge of the table facing the skylark, he rested his head on one fist and scratched his cat behind the ear with the other.

"The last herbivore I want to tell you about is called the Cassowary," he said. "It's diet is mostly fruit, but it is considered the deadliest bird in the world." Hibari continued glaring unblinkingly. "When something tries to fu-er, I mean, _mess_ with it, it will leap into the air and attack with a dagger-like claw on its inner toe. Apparently, it can _easily_ disembowel someone." Luca turned his head slightly on his fist to look out the window at the dark clouds rolling across the previously sunny day, letting his free hand flop down to rest on his other knee. It looked like it was about to rain.

He stared silently for a long, contemplative moment.

Hearing a shuffling sound, he turned back to see Hibari attempting to move himself closer with little shifting movements, a look of fierce determination on his face. He was actually making progress, albeit extremely slowly.

Luca sighed heavily, letting his head hang down and his hands rest in the air between his knees. "You know, I admire your determination, Little Bird, but if you keep doing that you're going to fall off." He rubbed one hand across his mouth to hide a helpless smile.

" _Shut up_."

Luca snorted. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you." He stood up and lifted his arms above his head in a full body stretch. "Here, you can have Volpe, and I'll come back for him later." He lifted the still docile cat off his shoulders and settled him next to the glaring teenager's head against the back of the couch. The cat took one look at the boy next to him and started purring like an engine. The face Hibari made was, in one word, hilarious. He looked like he didn't know what to do with himself.

Luca withheld the urge to coo at the image, but couldn't help but take out his phone and snap a photo.

Hibari snarled wordlessly, and made greater effort to get closer to the man and his belongings.

He was noticeably not disturbing the cat, though.

"Ahh, _entrambi dobbiamo davvero avere un punto debole verso le nuvole, eh Volpe_?" He sighed as he booped the two of them on the nose.

They both tried to bite him.

 _Adorable_ , honestly.

"I've got to go, Little Bird. I'm late for a meeting with the principal, but I'll leave a note for the Disciplinary Committee about you breaking the rules, okay?" He walked over to the desk and scribbled on a piece of scrap paper. He left it on the desk and walked over to the doorway.

Turning to look back on the room with one hand on the door, he snickered at the still struggling boy.

"Buh-bye now, Little Bird. Stay safe, and go to class!" He decisively shut the door with a click.

Putting his hands in his pockets, he had only walked a few steps when he heard a large _thump_ and muffled cursing.

Luca coughed to cover a bark of laughter, and continued on his way. He waved absentmindedly at a document-carrying student with a pompadour as Luca passed him in the hall. Making sure to lace his voice with just a smidge of _tranquility_ to ease any suspicion, he called out, "Keep up the good work, minion!"

Kusakabe paused in confusion and turned his head to follow the strange man. "Ah….you too?" he said, bewildered.

As Luca rounded the corner, he heard the door of the Reception Room open behind him.

"Kyo-san?!"

Luca power walked away and tried not to guffaw.

* * *

EXTRA:

This may or may not be the scene Kusakabe walks in on:

Imagine, if you would, Hibari Kyouya laying half on the ground, half on the coffee table. His jacket folded up and clutched in one hand, a tonfa in the other. His face is flushed. His teeth are bared. The second tonfa rolls off the table to hit the ground. A cat pokes its head up from behind the arm of the couch and meows demandingly.

 **Translation: "** **we both must really have a soft spot towards clouds, huh Volpe?** **" (google translate)**

 **All that info was from the first two links on google when you search 'dangerous herbivores.'**

 **Thanks for stopping by~! Leave a comment/reveiw on the way out? It's how I know you exist :P**

 **P.S. This fic now features Chapter Titles!**


	7. Interlude 1

**A bit of a character study.**

 **AKA: WHERE DID THIS PLOT COME FROM?!**

* * *

You are walking through a city. It's barely cold enough for a jacket, in fact you are just on the edge of _too warm_ , and you think it would almost be better to take it off. However, it's raining, but not the kind of rain that falls in thick drops that splatter satisfyingly on the window, and it's not a refreshing, cheerful light drizzle that children like to run around and jump in puddles in. And it's definitely not the type of rain that hits the ground and soaks through clothes like gunshots and _rage_.

No, that's not the type of day it is.

You are walking through a busy, gray city in your almost-too-warm jacket, and the rain falls like mist. Slowly, pervasively, and _annoyingly_. It scarcely qualifies as _real_ rain. It falls on your face and you can only barely feel it kiss your skin, but you can see it like a layer of static over the world. Your squinting to see in front of you, and you can feel a tension headache build in between where your eyebrows are furrowing. The hair on your head starts to frizz.

You begin to slide your hands every so often underneath your collar, because the tiny specks of water falling from the sky gathered enough on your body to drip uncomfortably in a slow slide down your neck. They have started to soak into the hidden folds of your clothes, and it feels like sweat sticking cloth to skin.

This is what Luca di Silva feels like to Flame Actives.

The skies he encounters don't look at him beyond a passing glance. And even then, it's only to wonder who could feel like they have no substance. Whose will is so weak that they don't have a chance in hell of harmonizing, because skies are always looking for the best, strongest, _perfect_ elements.

He's only interesting in a way that's easy to forget.

However, Luca knows that he comes off as what can only be described as _weird_ to someone who is more sensitive than the norm. Tsuna's fledgling Intuition is one of the only times in Luca's life that he registers on someone's scale as something more than _weak_. It's one of those things about himself that he can't change; like his eyes glowing orange at inconvenient times.

He knows that the gaps in his armor-the calculated _emptiness_ \- are unnerving to someone like Tsuna.

xxx

Luca does not have guardians, elements, _whatever_. He never has in his life, and it will only be under very specific circumstances that he ever will.

The closest thing he has is Skull, but even that relationship was built on lies back when Luca was young and stupid and thought he could control the world.

And yes, it hurts sometimes.

xxx

You look up, and you can see the light sparkling in dappled patterns from the sun breaking through clouds. The last of your breath leaves your lungs in a few bubbles that quickly float to burst at the edge of the water.

You are under the ocean. Far, far down and away from the gentle waves above. You sink slowly, peacefully down deeper, and deeper, and deeper.

The pressure around you starts to build. The crushing density of metric tons of water and the unrelenting drag of gravity pull and push against your body as the light fades and the water chills. This far down, the shifting shadows give the illusion of eldritch behemoths swimming just out of sight.

You cannot move, you cannot breath, and it's the kind of dark that sparks nightmares. However, instead of fear, or panic, you feel inexplicably safe. Those forces that would have- _should have_ -crushed you to paste are instead holding you in an encompassing embrace. It should be suffocating, and it is, you are breathless in the way an unexpected, enormous kindness leaves you holding your breath to make the moment last, just for a second longer.

The cold falls away, and you think that maybe you are just numb to it now with how it has seeped into your bones, but your back warms, and you catch a glow in the corner of your eyes.

Looking down, a giant underwater volcano glows a cornea-searing orange. The spider web of flowing magma running over the sea floor like veins pulsing blood from a heart. Sulfuric gasses gush upwards from the bubbling core, casting a haze over your vision. The heat grows until you are almost uncomfortable warm, but even in this you feel safe.

You are still sinking, you are growing closer and closer to this crucible of creation. This is how islands, continents, are formed. This is where life survives in a place that by all rights should be desolate. It's deadly destruction and awesome beginnings all in one place.

You are falling, now. You are falling into molten orange until it is all you can see no matter where you look. But you wouldn't look away from this even if you could. It fills your vision, and the heat _burns_.

You are almost- _so close_ -touching the very soul of it, and then-

You wake up.

xxx

Luca has wound his flame so tightly around itself that sometimes he feels like he's containing a star with just his will in a massive vacuum of space.

He's hiding the glow as well as he can in tightly clasped hands, but it is so brilliant that it shines through skin and muscles and only the faintest shadows show from his bones.

He hides himself in vast stretches of nothingness and fills what he can with laughter and nonsense.

He knows it won't last forever, but it will keep until the right time comes.

That's all he can hope for.

* * *

 **So I'm working on the next chapter, and it should be up this weekend (hopefully), but this really wanted to be written, soo ¯\\_(** **ツ** **)_/¯.**

 **Also: www . youtube watch?v=hmMlspNoZMs for my inspiration.**

 **Whatever. Happy Friday. ;P.**

* * *

 **Reviews! They're great! I'm replying zomg!**

 **Imperial Duck** **: I appreciate you. Like, a lot. Thanks so much for always commenting! Also, Luca totally googled herbivores too in preparation for that exact circumstance. He was prepared :)))))**

 **AlphabetNumberSymbol** **: That is what I like to hear! I'm so glad that I'm actually funny. If you die, don't haunt me, tho.**

 **bookimp** **: That's basically true for everyone. Luca is about as extra as a extra large Dr. Pepper from McD's.**

 **thanzintay.2000:** ***wipes tear* That just warms the cold halls of my heart, thank you! Hopefully, I can keep meeting expectations~~.**

 **karin angel** **: Sorry for replying so late! I'm glad you enjoyed!**

 **GorenGreen: I really hope that's a good reaction lol.**


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